Rezdy participates in IPW Washington
Las Vegas, NV — via Rezdy LLC
Original post at the Rezdy blog
Bailador portfolio company Rezdy is a first-time exhibitor in the Marketing Pavilion at this year’s IPW, June 3-7 in Washington D.C.
For Rezdy, the U.S. attractions market has become a major focus. New headquarters in Downtown Las Vegas, a growing U.S. based team, new contracts with suppliers including the world’s largest air tour operator Papillon Group (announced this week at IPW), fuel the desire to help the massive U.S. attractions market tap into the online booking potential through the distributors and rapidly growing mobile booking trends for these activities through B2B channels.
But Rezdy believes the industry has to overcome its inherent challenges.
Rezdy CEO and Founder Simon Lenoir is committing Rezdy’s resources to significant growth in the U.S. market and he is calling on the attractions industry here at IPW to embrace the B2B channel and take the next steps for growth in their business. Lenoir cites five reasons the activity market is lagging behind airline and hotel segments in embracing the booking trends of attraction travel through distribution channels. “We are so entrenched in the attraction and activities marketplace. We are analyzing our own booking trends and we have seen a 400% growth in mobile bookings since 2014. With all the activities and attractions in the U.S. market, we know the potential is tremendous.”
The five reasons Lenoir sees holding the U.S. market back from growth include:
- Fragmentation: trip advisor lists more than 700,000 attractions and experiences
- Small Business: 1 in 2 activity suppliers report gross sales of less than $250K in the U.S.
- No/Low Tech: 60% of the activity suppliers report annual spend on technology of less than $10K and there is no tech standard in the industry
- No association: there is no over-arching industry leadership in this segment
- Inertia: these small businesses are nervous of change.
“We understand and respect each of the reasons cited, but we know from experience and can learn from the airline and hospitality industry what can happen if, as a business, you embrace the possibilities of automating your booking options and extend your business through the B2B distribution channel,” said Lenoir. “Rezdy represents 5,300 active businesses in 88 countries. We process more than 206,000 bookings a month, with $3.2 M in daily bookings and $1.2B a year.”
Distributed bookings, through online travel agencies, traditional agencies and others, are exponentially growing. “The travel industry is now actively serving the Experience Generation and as some call the Experience Economy. This generation of travelers prefer to put off buying a house or a car or another major expense to make that once-in-a-lifetime trip. They are also a tech-driven generation and they will look to make those bookings online.”
The new relationship with Papillon Group adds iconic U.S. experiences to the Rezdy B2B portfolio. The portfolio includes Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, Grand Canyon Helicopters, Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines, and Grand Canyon Coaches. Papillon is the only company that flies the entire length of the Grand Canyon, with bases in Las Vegas; Boulder City, Hoover Dam; Grand Canyon West; Grand Canyon National Park and Page, Arizona.
“We are excited to add these iconic experiences to our booking portfolio. This makes Papillon an early adopter of this new technology and expands their portfolio into booking channels including Expedia,” said Bob Gilbert, Rezdy’s Head of Sales North America.